Deke of the Week 3 – Fakes

In the third edition of the deke of the week I am going to be talking about fakes. In my opinion a fake is not the same as a deke, but you can use fakes in your dekes. A “fake” is just a slight, or subtle movement that might freeze the opposing player for a slight second, sometimes a simple fake is all you need to get around a play. A deke requires a set of actions, with a deke you are baiting the other player, forcing them to move or opening them up, and then pulling a move on them. So with a deke you have the preperation (set the bait), pull the move, seperate yourself from the player, then accelerate. With a fake it is just a quick movement you do, and you can use them in your dekes. Here are some fakes you can do

Eye fakes (I’m not joking they work!)

Head fakes (usually used with shoulder fakes)

Leg fakes

Stick fakes and hand fakes

In the video below I go through each fake and tell you how you can use them in a game, in combinations, and when is the best time to use each fake. I thought it was important to cover all the fakes because I will be mentioning them in future deke of the weke videos.

Deke of the Week 3 Video

Thanks for watching! Next week we will be back on the rink. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog and videos on youtube to stay up to date with the latest hockey training.

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Hi my name is Jeremy Rupke. My goal is to break every hockey skill down into easy to understand articles and videos. I explain everything step-by-step to help others improve. I'm active on Instagram, Facebook and more, you can follow through the links above.
If you want to learn more about me you can read my about page. Thanks for reading and sharing!

I have lots of speed and great hands. But I am so fast that it sometimes seems like I have too much speed; the puck hits my skate and all of a sudden its in the neutral zone and I’m behind the other goalies net. Believe me I have the skill, hands, speed, and I am tall so I have a great view of the ice. Another problem is that my coach gets furious if I lose the puck even if it only happens once or twice a game and I am the only forward on my team who has skill and speed. So it seems like my coach and my speed are stopping me from playing my game right.

Hey Daniel, I know what playing with speed is like as I once went full tilt every time I got the puck which used to work wonders, but as my game progressed I learned that your speed can be used as a backup weapon.

Sometimes if you go full tilt every time you get the puck you will end up skating quickly into trouble, or in your case losing the puck on occasion when you shouldn’t. Try slowing your game down a bit, reading the ice, letting your team mates join the play, and moving the puck around to open up the ice.

Don’t always gun it when you get the puck. Take a few strides, read your options and go from there. The other players will try to pace you, so if you approach at medium speed and then kick it into top gear you can blow by them, but if you start at full speed they can sometimes angle you off into the boards.

Give it a shot and see how it works think of it like selective speed. Use it when you need it

As a player who doesn’t have the flashy speed, I have learned to see the ice better then most. But Occasionally when I remember to keep my feet moving I accidentally pull off what I call a “horseshoe” deke(Lucky, and accidentally sick). Do you have any tips for a guy like me? I do have the hands to pull it off, just not a super great deal of speed

Just play the game how you feel comfortable, and practice outside your comfort zone to keep improving. You don’t need to be really fast to be a good player, seeing the ice well is a great asset. Get the puck, control it, read the ice and set guys up.

It continues to amaze me that despite the fact I’ve played hockey for almost 7 years now that I can watch these videos and be genuinely enlightened by what’s in them. I think that’s what I love about this sport and this website- the fact that you can play forever once or twice a week and take a long time to learn these things. But now you can come to this website and check out these videos and enhance your game and speed up that learning process. The stick fake portion was fantastic, you can definitely bet I’ll be practicing that as much as possible before heading back to the ice.

I’m getting to the point now that I’m getting real good at stick handling but this site has made me realize that maybe I should master some other techniques first like these fakes and that will really enhance my game. I can’t stress enough how great this site is, and I will continue to visit it. I’ve been practicing with your weighted stick tutorial, and I can say without a doubt that your videos have enhanced my stick handling skills. Your toe-drag tutorial is hands down the best I’ve seen on the web.

I can only hope to enhance my own game at the same time that I will continue to push the great things this website promotes. As a final note- I really hope you can work something out with the Coyotes organization to get more exposure for the site and help young kids and adults alike experience the love and joy that is ice hockey. Keep up the great works guys, and thanks for making such a wonderful website.

@Jeremy – Totally agree. I used to be pretty slick with the eye fakes in high school. Used to use it when rushing out of the our zone (I played D). Look to the right as I’m nearing center ice, little bit of a shoulder fake then feed it left to the winger who’s flying into the offensive zone – as I would break to the right of the guy in front of me.